www.myspace.com/dickgaughan

He has been a professional musician and singer since Jan 1970. Has been playing guitar since the age of 7 and made his first solo album in 1971. Working mainly in the areas now known as "Folk" or "Celtic" music, he has recorded quite extensively since then in many countries and in various combinations. Has also worked extensively as a session musician in a wide variety of musical styles.

Having very eclectic tastes, he also plays everything from free jazz and rock to country music and has studied orchestration to develop his compositional and midi programming skills. He plays most fretted stringed instruments but his natural instrument, and perhaps what he is happiest doing, is acoustic guitar. His greatest musical love is for the ancient traditional Scots ballads. Also know as The Muckle Sangs (the big songs), these are the big story songs which form a substantial part of Scotland's living wealth of traditional song.

www.myspace.com/2martinsimpson1

Martin Simpson is one of the finest acoustic finger-style and slide guitar players in the world. Winner of 3 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, an Indie Award for his album Cool & Unusual, and the 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ards Guitar Festival, he is a superb interpreter of traditional music and song from Europe and from the American South. Growing up in Lincolnshire he was inspired by the likes of Martin Carthy, Davey Graham and Richard Thompson during the folk revival of the 60s. He was also hugely influenced by the recordings of Big Joe Williams, the Reverend Gary Davies, Blind Willie Johnson and Doc Watson, which has led to an eclectic style of playing and repertoire that is all his own. He has worked with the likes of Jackson Browne, David Lindley, June Tabor, Martin Carthy, Martin Taylor and Eric Bibb and is a popular and much loved solo performer. Both spell-binding, and highly entertaining, he is a master of his craft.

www.myspace.com/elipaperboyreed

“In the past comparisons have been made between Reed and soul heavyweights such as Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, but tonight the 24 year-old Bostonian is his own man, using his Mississippi apprenticeship to inform tracks such as Am I Wasting My Time, Walking And Talking (the title track of his debut album) and It’s Easier with a rare fire and passion.” MOJO

Having done their fair share of Green Mind gigs as part of The Little Flames The Rascals make a welcome return. The Rascals have an ear for beautiful pop melodies and an instinct for psychedelic quirk underlined with a compelling dark soul. Frontman Miles Kane is also known as part of The Last Shadow Puppets, a collaboration with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys.

www.myspace.com/caimbo

Cambridge's tousled haired pretenders to the throne. Classic Rock’s Jerry Ewing states that “Caimbo have that bright breezy and energetic sound the combines honest hard rock with the Stadium pretensions of U2’s louder moments” XFM describe Caimbo as as “R.O.C.K. in that old-school, big-hair, strutting and sweating way – a combination of cracking tunes, good looks, youth, and that inherent thing that makes some bands just spark and fizz on stage.” Time Out predicts that Caimbo “could follow Razorlight into the charts. “Whilst Q who featured Caimbo’s ‘Something In The Way in their 50 Essential Tracks To Download May ’08, states simply: “Hair Rock returns!”

www.myspace.com/thejackieleven

Scotland's Jackie Leven got his start as the singer for the group Doll by Doll. After the band's demise, he hit a streak of bad luck -- his girlfriend left him for the Dalai Lama's bodyguard, and his flirtation with drugs became a full-on addiction. Eventually, however, he got clean, and lived to sing about his troubles on his 1995 debut for Cooking Vinyl, The Mystery of Love Is Greater Than the Mystery of Death. The label also reissued his 1975 record, Control (originally released as by John St. Field), and the new album Forbidden Songs of the Dying West later in 1995. Several additional albums appeared during the late '90s, including studio efforts for Cooking Vinyl and Thirsty Ear, plus live albums recorded for Haunted Valley. Elegy for Johnny Cash arrived in 2005.

www.myspace.com/thepsychedelicresistance

Our Chrimbo party features our favourite psych-rock warriors, The Resistance. Essential for fans of My Bloody Valentine, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Jesus and Mary Chain and more.

www.myspace.com/roseskingscastles

Directionally guided by sole member Adam Ficek, the project first came to fruition during intervals within first love, Babyshambles. Thus began the perfect platform to air and share the artist’s songs and melodies.

Roses Kings Castles the music, the concept always existed, but has only been born of late.

The music: a cobblestone bridge lying somewhere between the pastoral warmth of a tree and the suburban, quixotic pop of an engine.

The concept: an all inclusive, care in the community, musical workshop of evolving ideas.

www.myspace.com/frankturner

Singer-songwriter Frank Turner has undergone quite a transformation in the last few years. After getting into punk and buying a guitar, he formed punk band Million Dead in 2001. After two critically acclaimed albums the band split in 2005, with Frank deciding to pursue a solo career.

As he was rediscovering the artists from his youth, such as Johnny Cash and Counting Crows, he found himself getting more into country and folk, and swapped his electric guitar for an acoustic. He started touring and hasn't stopped since, clocking up around 350 shows across Europe and America. His debut album in 2007, Sleep Is For The Week, received great reviews and was shortlisted for the XFM New Music Award. The follow up, Love, Ire & Song, was released in March, and is starting to amass similarly great praise. His razor sharp observations, strong mix of love songs and anecdotes, and social commentaries have led him to be described as a "Billy Bragg for twenty-something punks".

www.myspace.com/lookseeproof

Radar goes head to head with the Junction Fiver to bring you a night of bands, crowdsurfing, rock action and mayhem. Just the way to ease you into 2009.

www.myspace.com/innerpartysystem

"It's hard not to think of arena crowds and festivals going apeshit to this music" - Kerrang!

"Hugely danceable and massively anthemic" - Rocksound

"A whirlpool of late Eighties electronic nostalgia coupled with searing guitar riffs" - Musicweek.co.uk

www.theonlyones.biz

New wave legends responsible for one of the best records ever, in the form of Another Girl, Another Planet. Having reformed recently they've been blazing a trail across the country, rejuvenated and with all the razor sharp tunes you could hope for.

www.drevermccuskerwoomble.com

"Not so much a new acoustic trio at the Scottish rock and folk music interface, more a concert party, this, as Roddy Woomble of Idlewild and folk musicians of many parts John McCusker and Kris Drever gather friends and companions for a night of songs, tunes, stories and ongoing banter about tuning-up requirements.

The album that the trio have just released, Before the Ruin, plays a prominent role but there are visits, too, to McCusker's recently re-issued solo work and Drever's acclaimed Blackwater CD, as well as contributions from McCusker's partner, Heidi Talbot, on vocals; singer, guitarist and songwriter Boo Hewerdine; and Kevin McGuire offering a quiet but firm double-bass presence." The Herald